DAILY MAIL (London)
March 23, 2007 Friday
THREE ARRESTED AS POLICE MAKE 7/7 BREAKTHROUGH
BY STEPHEN WRIGHT AND CHARLOTTE GILL
THREE British-born Muslims were dramatically arrested yesterday in the first major breakthrough by police investigating the July 7 explosions.
They are suspected accomplices of the four suicide bombers who claimed 52 lives and brought carnage to London's transport network nearly two years ago.
Yesterday's arrests are also the first clear indication that Mohammed Sidique Khan, Shehzad Tanweer, Hasib Hussain and Jermaine Lindsay were helped as they plotted to blow up Tube trains and buses in July 2005.
Ever since the explosions, police have strongly suspected that the men were supported and financed by a larger network based both here and abroad.
Security sources said last night that the net was finally closing in on the Al Qaeda mastermind and the support group behind the blasts. A source said: 'This is a sigarrestednificant breakthrough after 20 months of painstaking work and surveillance.'
Two of the three who are all British of Pakistani origin were held at Manchester Airport as they waited to board a flight to Karachi in Pakistan. A third suspect was arrested in Leeds.
Last night officers were searching five addresses in Beeston, Leeds, along with a flat and a business in East London. At least two of the houses raided in Leeds are within a short distance of the family home of Tanweer.
It emerged last night that since July 7, a team of Scotland Yard detectives has been based in Leeds to try to identify the alleged accomplices. Detectives still believe that a senior Al Qaeda figure based in Pakistan orchestrated the bombings.
The two men aged 23 and 30 arrested at Manchester Airport shortly before 1pm had gone through passport control and were air side in the terminal building at the time of the arrests.
The third man, aged 26, was at his home in Beeston shortly after 4pm. Armed officers were not used.
They are the first major arrests since the attacks. No one has been charged in connection with the bombings. Scotland Yard said the arrests were part of a pre-planned, intelligence-led operation which involved the West Yorkshire police Counter Terrorism Unit.
The men were arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000.
They were taken to high-security Paddington Green police station in West London where they were interviewed by officers from the Met Police's Counter Terrorism Command.
Police have up to 28 days to question the men under new anti-terrorism legislation, but will have to apply to a magistrate for a series of custody extensions during that time.
Khan, Tanweer and Hussain were all closely connected with Beeston's mosques, youth clubs, gyms and Islamic book shops.
Police have focused their investigation on the area but have struggled to glean information from the close-knit Muslim community.
Lord Carlile, the Government's watchdog on terror, said officers had always been looking for others involved in the attacks.
He said: 'Anybody who imagined that this had simply been treated as four lone wolves, or a lone pack of wolves on July 7 2005, is very wrong.'
The link to Pakistan has featured heavily in the investigation into the 7/7 bombings.
It is known that Khan, 30, the ringleader of the terror cell, and his right-hand man Tanweer, 22, both went there at the end of 2004 and the start of 2005 to seek out Al Qaeda figures.
A police spokesman said yesterday: 'We need to know who else knew what they were planning. Did anyone encourage them? Did anyone help them with money, or accommodation?'
The five houses in Beeston are all situated within a three-quarters of a mile area. At one of the five addresses neighbours said a taxi driver and father of three lived there along with his wife and children.
The taxi company owner said: 'He left here about three weeks ago and said he was going to Pakistan. We didn't ask him why, we don't tend to pry into personal matters.
'He was very polite, a real gentleman. We never had any cause to complain about him.' A neighbour said the man had lived there for 'four or five years' and regularly attended the local mosque.
Last night police officers stood guard outside each property.
____________________________________
|